Carnival cancels Alaska cruises
Carnival Cruise Lines has cancelled its remaining Alaska voyages, dealing another blow to Seattle’s coronavirus-battered cruise economy.
Between a no-sail order from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a Canadian cruising moratorium, July 1 is the absolute earliest cruise ships could begin calling in Seattle again, according to the Port of Seattle.
Two additional cruise lines said on Wednesday they were also cancelling sailings to Alaska this summer.
Many Alaska cruises make a stop in Victoria.
Princess Cruises and Holland America Line had previously announced sharply reduced plans for voyages to and tours in Alaska.
Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Holland America Line fall under the Carnival Corp. umbrella.
The Carnival Spirit was scheduled to call in Seattle 11 times, on its way to Alaska and Vancouver.
Each cruise vessel call supports $4.2 million US in economic activity, according to the Port of Seattle. Nearly 100 vessel calls have already been cancelled to slow the spread of the coronavirus; 125 vessels are scheduled to call at Seattle in the latter half of the summer.
Cruising, which supports 5,500 jobs in the Seattle region, has been one of the industries most hard-hit by measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, said Stephanie Jones Stebbins, the port’s maritime director, in a Port Commission meeting last week. Beyond cruise lines and passengers, the shutdown affects provisioners and the Seattle tourism industry, which had been anticipating nearly 1.3 million people to pass through Seattle on their way to or from a cruise.
“When it is safe to start up, we are confident this will be an important part of the economic recovery of our region,” Jones Stebbins said. “Port staff will be working with cruise industry and other travel partners to restart this business when it is safe to do so.”
Carnival’s shutdown extends beyond its Alaska routes. Other than eight vessels homeported in Florida, which will resume service Aug. 1, the company has suspended service on all routes departing from North American and Australian ports through Aug. 31.
“We are committed to supporting all public health efforts to manage the COVID-19 situation,” the Carnival statement read. “We are taking a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of homeports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests.”
In some instances, people infected on cruise ships have brought COVID-19 ashore and sparked new outbreaks of the disease, the CDC has said.
“People on a large ship, all together, at the same time, all the time — you couldn’t ask for a better incubator for infection,” Anthony Fauci, the U.S.’s top infectious-diseases expert, said in February.
The Associated Press reported that the number of people visiting Alaska on cruise ships went from 480,000 in 1996 to almost 1.4 million last year, citing a report by state labour department economists.
Mike Tibbles, with Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said by email that the state faces a loss of 479 voyages — or 80 per cent of expected sailings — with a passenger capacity of more than 955,000 because of ship cancellations.